Welcome to Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts Message Board, an online scroll saw forum community where you can join thousands of scrollers from around the world discussing all things related to Scrolling. To gain full access to the message board you must register for a free account.
As a registered member you will be able to:

Bought a new Porter-Cable 16''scrollsaw from Lowes yesterday, put it together last night and was not impressed. Fooled with a little this evening and ready to take it back. Seems not to be able to hold a blade unless tension is so loose that it has 1/2 inch of play in it....so instead I nursed the old delta 16'' through another 30 minute cutting session. The Porter Cable seems quite unusable....unless someone has great suggestions on how this thing can be made usable, it is going back to Lowes....
Was using a Flying Dutchman XL #9 blade in it, which I can get as tight as a guitar string in the Delta...

There are set screws on each side, top & bottom.
One uses a thumb screw, the other an allen screw.
The one with the allen, obviously, you don't need to mess with much ,,, Unless it needs adjusting, which sounds like the case with you.
I like mine just a bit past flush top & bottom ... Or you can rig it up so that both screws meet in the middle.

Easy adjustment, only downside is if you have to do the bottom ,its a bit of a pain to get to.
Take off the plastic side cover, and theres a small screw holding the bottom clamp on. It has a tiny nut on it, so if you don't have a wrench that small, use maybe some needle nose pliers.
Once that is off, you can adjust the screw, then put it back on [careful you don't lose the tiny lock washers on the screw].
Hopefully that'll take care of the problem.

Phil,
I would take it back. The Porter Cable they sent me to review held any blade I put in it, and I tend to over-tension my blades a bit. In fact, when my mom was interested in starting to scroll saw, that's the saw I suggested for her.

Xray already mentioned the adjustment I'd make if I didn't want to return it.

Thanks for the advice. I'll take a look to see if I can figure which screws where need adjusting. Top has a set screw that can be tightened with allen wrench, bottom just has T-handled little gizmo and that is what is not holding. If it looks like "Aggie Engineering" is needed I will return it to store....

Phil, in some other posts I have heard people say that you can try running sandpaper up in the blade holders and that could possibly give you more gripby ruughing the inside of the holder up. I was gonna try that myself cause I have had the same problems with several different brands and size of blades but my 3 wk old porter cable is falling apart. I'm taking it back to excahnge or refund and get a EX-21. Let me know what you figure out.

The Porter Cable went back to Lowe's and was refunded with no hassle, they simply gave me a store card with that amount on it...

The EX-21 came yesterday evening - got it all assembled and used for several hours....magnificent is the only word to describe....quiet, smooth, powerful and accurate. The 18 yr old Delta is like a thresher in comparison. Doing inside cuts is a breeze. It will take a little time to get used to threading the blade into the bottom blade holder, but the blade seems to last about 4 times longer as on the old Delta.

Glad you found a solution that worked for you.
Personally, things that don't work right bug me, I've been that way since I was a child.
When something is broke, I feel compelled to fix it. Even if its a hassle and takes more time and $$ than its worth, even when I know next to nothing about the malfunctioning item, I'll dissect just about anything, and attempt a repair.
But simply taking something back, when an option, is the better route for most people I suppose.
My Hitachi, which is the same at the Porter Cable, isn't working right either, but I been swamped with work, and also garage is a bit cold to work in, but I look forward to messing with it and get it operating the way it should.
I ordered up a Ex16 too, I figure 2 scroll saws will be better than one.